In “Human Rights and the Age of Inequality”, Samuel Moyn delves into the drastic mismatch between the current crisis of inequality and the human rights remedy that is supposed to address it. He argues that the human rights regime and movement are not equipped to handle the issue of global inequality and that a supplement, rather than a substitute, is needed.
Moyn tells the story of King Croesus, the last Lydian King,
who was rich and happy but didn’t want to spend his money on helping his people
though he thought his people should be happy and free of any pain. Later, he
was defeated by the Persian King Cyrus the Great and took over his money and
property. This is similar to the modern world, where resources and means are
not evenly distributed and there is a lot of inequality. Despite the celebration
of Human Rights Day, there has been little progress in ensuring equal access to
rights and property for rich and poor people around the world.
The author then talks about the history of human rights and
economics, stating that there have been two main steps in this history: the era
of national welfare states after World War II and the takeover of politics and
economics in the 1940s. Despite efforts like Franklin Roosevelt’s call for a
second Bill of Rights, human rights have suffered from favoritism and the
division of the world into two camps.
Moyn suggests that there may need to be another human rights
movement and gives the example of Herodotus’ history, which highlights the
need for economic and social justice for the poor. He argues that the current
economic and political framework must be changed to ensure that all people have
equal access to resources and freedom. Laws must be made and enforced to ensure
equal distribution of wealth, and radical movements are necessary for an
egalitarian society.
He concludes by pointing out that our shared fate is to live
in a world like King Croesus’, where the rich have a lot of fun, freedom, and
everything, while the poor live in a realm of illusion, where they have
floating equality and freedom. In order to create a more equal society, there must
be a supplement to the current human rights solution and a change in the
economic and political framework.
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